MPs pile pressure on Duncan Smith to ease his benefits crackdown

Iain Duncan Smith: faces calls to water down a benefits clampdown to lessen its impact on London

Cabinet minister Iain Duncan Smith will today face calls to water down a benefits clampdown to lessen its impact on London.

Liberal Democrat deputy leader Simon Hughes is to lead a delegation of MPs to warn the Work and Pensions Secretary of "continuing concern" in the capital at the reforms.

Mr Hughes, MP for Bermondsey and Old Southwark, said the £26,000-a-year cap per family on benefits could be easily reached, given the high costs of housing in London.

He is "sympathetic" to the idea of excluding child benefit from the overall cap. A family with three children currently receives £2,500 a year in child benefit.

Mr Hughes is understood to be reflecting the views of Lib-Dem ministers, as well as many councillors and grassroots activists. He told the Standard: "There is continuing concern in London at the link between the benefits cap and the high costs of housing. Ministers at the Department of Work and Pensions have been willing to listen and have already made some positive changes.

"Today will be an opportunity for elected representatives to put their case directly to ministers, who I hope will take on board their concerns."

Stephen Knight, Lib-Dem leader on Richmond council, said of the housing benefit crackdown: "It is really nasty stuff from the Government.

"These are clearly Conservative-led policy changes but in my view Liberal Democrat MPs and ministers have not done nearly enough to prevent them coming through." Mr Duncan Smith defended the reforms. He said reports about thousands of people forced to move because of new housing benefit caps were "scare stories causing unnecessary distress".

He added: "The failure of the last Labour government to reform housing benefit has left us in the absurd situation where some people can claim over £100,000 a year to live in large houses in expensive areas.

"This is unacceptable when hard-working individuals and families are struggling to find affordable rents or pay their mortgages. A small number of people may have to move and we are giving local authorities an additional £190 million over the next four years to smooth the transition."

His aides played down the prospects of child benefit being excluded from the cap and stressed it did not apply once people started working.

But a report for Westminster council said the housing benefit reforms may force up to 43 per cent of primary school age children to move.